Mr. Johnson made an effort to bring the discussion back to what was to him its point of greatest interest.
“These financial embarrassments of Sir Bertram and his son,” he said, “I presume there is nothing absolutely urgent about them.”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to admit that,” Mr. Foulds replied cautiously. “There was a rumour yesterday that there was a conference of lawyers in London fixed for next week. Mr. Jenkins from Norwich—he’s the lawyer who deals chiefly with the mortgages—he did say last week that they couldn’t see the year through.”
The entrance of Rawson interfered with the trend of the conversation. It was a matter of etiquette at the Ballaston Arms that gossip concerning the Hall was not indulged in while he was present unless he himself introduced the subject. The butler greeted the tenant of the Great House with the slightly extra respect to which his recent visit entitled him.
“Glad to see you at the Hall with us to-day, sir,” he remarked. “You will find the Squire a kindly gentleman and hospitable when he takes the fancy.”
“I found him most agreeable,” Mr. Johnson acknowledged. “I enjoyed very much, too, my brief glimpse of your marvellous art treasures.”
“Marvellous they are,” Rawson sighed, as he held up his glass to the light. “A bit of tantalisation about them, though, as you might say. Hundreds of thousands there, doing nobody any good.”
“By the way,” Mr. Johnson continued, “there were two wonderfully carved wooden Images in Mr. Henry’s room. Do they set much store by them?”
“I should say they did, sir. Rather a curious thing about those Images. One of them is damned ugly. That’s the one Mr. Gregory sent home from abroad and that Mr. Henry seemed to take a fancy to. Mr. Gregory himself, he has a sort of dislike to it. All the time it was in Mr. Henry’s room alone, he never went in if he could help it. Then, about a year ago, the other one turned up. A nice bit of work, that. They’re side by side now, and Mr. Gregory don’t seem to mind. I’ve seen him handling them and looking at them for hour after hour, and Sir Bertram too. There’s a man been down from London to examine them—made me think they might be worth a bit of money.”
“I should think they very likely might be,” Mr. Johnson agreed.